maple leafs

Matthews suspended two games after Leafs fiasco at Heritage Classic

Mar 14, 2022 • 1:05 pm

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It is difficult to put an optimistic spin on the Toronto Maple Leafs a week before the NHL trade deadline. The club’s goaltending and defense are in disarray, their offense is dependent mostly on one line and their power play, and now after an embarrassing 5-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at the Heritage Classic in Hamilton, ON on Sunday, the club will have to play without leading scorer Auston Matthews for the next two games.

Ondrej Kase and Matthews scored in the second period to give Toronto a 2-1 lead, but the Sabres responded with four unanswered goals to beat the Leafs in front of over 26,000 fans at Tim Hortons Stadium. The frustrated Leafs leading scorer retaliated after being checked and pushed down by Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin with a cross-check to the neck, drawing a two-game suspension from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Monday.

Matthews will forfeit $116,402.50, but more importantly, will miss home games against Dallas and Carolina this week after losing four of the last six games to non-playoff teams.

"I'm not going to read too much into a night like tonight, but certainly before tonight (when) we're playing regular surroundings, it's something that we haven't been happy with for sure.… Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “We're going to get more than enough opportunity to play against teams that are not in the bottom half of the league and we'll read a little more into who we are as a team when that happens."

Another poor performance by Petr Mrazek and the Leafs defense cost the club again. Keefe had no answer to partner with Morgan Rielly with TJ Brodie on the second pairing. Timothy Liljegren’s miscue led to Peyton Krebs tying goal and him being replaced by Rasmus Sandin. Sandin’s errant pass around the wall and Mrazek’s inability to cover the short-side resulted in Vinnie Hinostroza’s game-winner early in the third period.

Leafs GM Kyle Dubas faces a situation in the next seven days where not addressing the blueline and situation between the pipes will lead to almost certain defeat in the postseason. The level of frustration on the faces of Keefe and some of the players is painfully apparent and the answers do not appear to be internal.

The absence of Jake Muzzin only solves part of the issue on defense, as his return will allow Rielly to be reunited with Brodie, but it still leaves the Leafs without a top-four right-handed blueliner capable of playing 20 minutes a night. With “Erratic… Mrazek, Toronto is lacking a stabilizing presence in goal, and after watching Dahlin and Dylan Cozens targeting Matthews, the lack of players who can play a physical brand of hockey higher in the lineup continues to be a fatal flaw.

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